I Tried to Learn The Art of Crochet - Part 1

SUBTITLE - IN WHICH I ATTEMPT TO MAKE A FROG FOR MY PRINCE CHARMING...

I am afraid I am a frequent victim of additional purchases while queuing at the supermarket - you know what I mean, when they display sweets, magazines, multibuys, gadgets and the like to tempt you while you wait forever in the longest queue that you thought was the shortest...

Last weekend, I fell victim to a craft magazine (not for the first time!), which promised to teach me how to crochet.  This is something that I have always wanted to try, but not having anyone in the family that could show me how as a youngster (my mother made sure I was adept in the arts of sewing, knitting, cross-stitch, embroidery, amongst other ladylike and housewifely pursuits) I had never given it a try.

So here was my chance - an open invitation into the World of Crochet - at a small price, so if I didn't get on with it, well there was no great investment lost.  (By the way, I also bought Hubby a pack of boxer shorts to redress the "treats" balance - how more fair could I be??!)

I got home and excitedly unpacked my goodies - magazine + crochet hook + 6 small balls of sample wool.  As Hubby got up later to go back to work (I send him out twice a day to earn his keep, bless him) he uttered the fateful words "I expect one of those frogs by the time I get home..."  Well, red rag to bull, I never can ignore a challenge!

Let me just say this right from the beginning - how bloody damn foolish of me - afterall, I had never even picked up a crochet hook before, let alone tried the 4 or 5 stitches that were required by this seemingly inoccuous pattern.

I will tell the rest of this story in pictures:

Here is the guilty party, magazine and contents that lured me to my doom...

Here is the article that inspired the glib challenge from Him Indoors - see that cheeky expression on the the little frogs face - he's saying "Ha! - you'll never get it to look like me!!!"

I resort to the internet - and YouTube in particular for a crash course in "How to Crochet, for the uninitiated, and downright MAD!!

After tying my fingers together several times, I finally get on my way to my first Magic Ring!

And if you can get your "magic" ring to work, then it really is magic... of the witchery type!

I soldier on - but the body is shrinking before my very eyes...!

OK, so the further I got the more fiddly it became to juggle my camera one handed, so I gave up on the photo-commentary, partly to spare my blushes...

...and this sorry little fellow was the result of nearly 4 hours HARD LABOUR!

Please don't laugh at him, he's only small!

Anyway, lessons have been learned, and so many of them... just because others can do it, doesn't mean it's easy - patience is a virtue (that I don't possess) - start with something easy - learn and practise the basics - not every challenge can be won - fluffy wool and a big crochet hook are not the friends of a beginner - my husband still loves me, even if you're laughing at my efforts - there are so many gifted crochet-ers out there, that have SOOO much new respect in my eyes.... etc, etc

This weekend I am off to my local aladins cave of fabric, wool and all that jazz, and I am going to buy a proper crochet hook, and some real crochet yarn - of the non-woolly kind!

Yes, you can say it...     CROCHET - I'm HOOKED !!!!!!

(Part 2 will follow, when I have untied my fingers...)